Astronaut Explains “Intriguing Sight” of Vivid Dot Noticed on Earth

An astronaut aboard the Worldwide House Station (ISS) not too long ago shared an “intriguing” daylight sight of a vivid dot in the course of a desert on Earth. “A vivid dot within the Negev desert…so uncommon to see human-made lights in day passes!” European House Company (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti tweeted whereas sharing three pictures exhibiting a distant white speck towards a brown panorama. 

Within the caption, Ms Cristoforetti defined a bit about its origin. “It is a concentrated solar energy plant, one of many applied sciences to get renewable vitality from the solar. with one of many world’s tallest solar energy towers,” she stated. 

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As per CNET, the intense dot was seen due to the Ashalim Photo voltaic Thermal Energy Station, which makes use of mirrors to pay attention daylight to an 820-feet-tall tower within the Negev desert of Israel. This tower is taken into account one of many world’s tallest solar energy towers. It’s large enough to create the noticeable dot of sunshine that Ms Cristoforetti noticed from the ISS. 

Here is a picture from 2020 of what it seems to be like from a bit of nearer to the bottom: 

Ms Cristoforetti additionally added the hashtag #MissionMinerva to her publish. Minerva is the identify of her second expedition to the ISS. According to the ESA web site, Ms Cristoforetti first flew to the Station in 2014 for her Italian House Company ASI-sponsored mission ‘Futura’.

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Earlier this 12 months, she was once more launched on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft from Florida as a part of Crew-4 with the intention to function lead for all US Orbital Phase (USOS) operations. 

In the meantime, since being shared, Ms Cristoforetti’s tweet has taken the web by storm. Commenting on the publish, one consumer wrote, “A light-weight of hope for our surroundings”. One other stated, “Troublesome to see out of your pictures, however simpler as soon as zoomed in.  I might guess its very easy to select in particular person although. In all probability sparkles like a star on earth.” “Very spectacular,” commented third. “what a view!” stated fourth. 

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